December Ashes
by wyspergrove
Summary: Hermione survives the war only to see all of her friends and loved ones taken by it. Instead of moving on and living as the heroine witch, she decides to embrace her muggle heritage. Can she escape the nightmares of her past?


Disclaimer: I only wish I owned Harry Potter, but I don't. I also don't own "The Raven." That masterpiece belongs to Edgar Allen Poe.

A/N Yes, this is a HG/SS pairing story, but not in this chapter. Please be patient and let the story unfold

"Why do the other elements aspire to like the noble gases when they form compounds?" Hermione Granger asked her muggle Chemistry class.

A red haired girl with thin metal glasses immediately raised her hand, and Hermione suppressed a nostalgic grin. Looking over the girl's head, she asked, "Does anyone else know?"

"I know!" the girl replied and started to wave her arm around..

"Michael?" Hermione addressed a well dressed blonde daydreaming in the back of the room. Startled, he jumped an inch and scrambled to find an answer.

"Um...What was the question again?"

"I will not repeat myself. Pay attention. Joanne?" She turned her attention to another part of the room, again avoiding the now wildly waving hand.

"Ah...um...the noble gasses are at the end of the periodic table?" Joanne looked down at her Shipton sandles trying to avoid the instructor's disapproving glare.

Hermione sighed, but before she could correct Joanne, the owner of the tumultuous arm jumped out of her seat and stated, "Ms. Griffin, the other elements aspire to be like the noble gases in chemical compounds because all noble gases have the maximum number of electrons possible in their outer valence shell, making them stable." She sat down and a smug grin caused her freckles to cascade around her face. Several groans erupted throughout the classroom.

"That is correct Gwen. However, I did not ask for your answer, and if you continue to do the work for your classmates, I will have to give you detention. As it is, you will stay after."

At that moment the bell rang and the students started to stuff their books and pencils into what looked to be oversized Christmas turkeys. "Hold it!" Hermione raised her hands and silence replaced the shuffling chaos. "I did not dismiss this class. For homework you will read chapter seven, section four, and answer the chapter review– in complete sentences. Furthermore, since you decline to listen in class, and you have two extra days before the next class meeting, I will need an essay on the properties of the elements which is to include electron configuration and their placement on the periodic table in relation to the said properties." Hermione gave a necessary pause to let the students retrieve their planners and write in the assignment. "Class Dismissed. Have a good weekend."

Ignoring the groans and complaints, Hermione fell into her desk chair and rummaged through the top drawer for a bottle of Motrin. She opened the bottled and stared at the dwindling oval pills. Grimacing, she snapped the top shut and threw it back into the desk drawer. "What I need is some frog toenail for a migraine potion." she thought aloud and started to massage her temples.

"Ms. Griffin?" Gwen whispered causing Hermione to jump.

"What do you want now?" Although Hermione was only a few inches taller than most of her students, she managed to stand and loom over Gwen, causing her to take a step back.

"Um...you asked me to stay after class." Defiantly, Gwen met Hermione's eyes with her own.

Miffed, Hermione replied, "Honestly, Gwen, you could have stayed in your seat. I would have acknowledged you when I was ready. Which brings me to the reason you are here. I know you know this material better than your own hand and are just taking the class as a college prerequisite."

Gwen started to nod, but Hermione interrupted. "However, that doesn't give you the right to not respect my authority. I will not have you respond out of turn. Do you understand, Gwen Stevens?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Expecting Gwen to leave, Hermione sat back in her chair and attacked the growing stack of student papers.

"Ms. Griffin.." Gwen hadn't moved

"Yes, Gwen," Hermione looked up.

"Do frogs have toe nails?"

Hermione nearly choked. "I am sorry you had to hear the rambling of a old spinster. I don't know if frogs have toenails. It is none of your concern. You are dismissed. Please leave..now."

Gwen flinched at the "now" and ran out of the room, nearly knocking over the old man in the doorway.

Chuckling, the man walked to Hermione's desk. "Emily, the last time I checked 23 is not spinster age, neither is it old." Hermione thought he had a glimmer in his eye that could have rivaled Dumbledore's.

Hermione gave up on grading any papers and exclaimed, "Honestly, Charles, you think I asked them to create a new element! What do I need to do to get them to participate and learn something besides the pretty face next to them..."

"Ah, you have discovered the teacher's true challenge. The answer to that question is undoubtably different for every teacher, and the teachers that are able to find that answer are the ones that actually make a difference in the student's lives." While Hermione pondered that bit of insight, a few faces drifted into her mind– Professor McGonnagall, Remus Lupin, Professor Snape... Deliberately she put an end to that train of thought. She had given up that life and the right to reminisce four years ago. More importantly, that life had given her up. The war had taken everyone she held dear- Ginny, Ron, Remus, Mr. Weasly, Dumbledore, and finally Harry. All in the name of the Light. In the end, she fled to America, and sought the solitude and anonymity of a muggle college student, and now, a school teacher.

With an effort, she changed her scowl into a pleasant smile. "And what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? I doubt my boss drops in on his employees everyday just to impart some great token of wisdom."

He chuckled some more. "You are ever the perceptive one, though I don't like to keep my colleges at the other end of the stable, so to speak. I do occasionally try to share my fifty years of teaching experience. It is actually a funny story that brought me here. Are you in a hurry?"

"No, sir. I have time to listen." Hermione tried to look relaxed.

"Well, I was in my office when I heard a slight tapping at the window. At first I thought nothing of it. I was actually in the middle of rereading one of my favorite poems, "The Raven," by Poe.

"While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;

Only this, and nothing more.'

"And indeed I thought it was nothing. But the tapping was so insistent that I opened my purple curtains and looked outside."

"Do you know what I found? A raven, pecking at the window as if to ask for entrance. I thought I had finally gone over the edge. I half expected it to say, "Lenore," and I couldn't get the last stanza of Poe's poem out of my head:

"And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming.

And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted-nevermore!"

Hermione started to feel dread crawl up from the floor, through her feet, and snake around her spine. She knew the ending to this story. Would the past forever haunt her?

"But alas. It was not here for my soul. It came bearing a letter...addressed to one Hermione Granger..AKA Ms. Emily Griffin." He pulled out the letter and placed it on the desk. "Do you know from whence this came?"

Hermione turned whiter than the chalk on the board behind her. The letter had no return address, and when she turned it over, it was sealed with the initials, SS.

Thank you reading my very first fan fiction.

Please provide the author with constructive criticism.


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